Margao civic body takes over Sonsoddo plant

The Margao municipal council (MMC) took over the Sonsoddo
waste treatment plant on Thursday from Soceidade de Fomento, the
company that was operating the plant since the last
few years.

Fomento officials had written to the MMC expressing
their will to hand over the waste treatment plant to the civic body after
withdrawing an application that was filed in the sessions court in the
case of Fomento versus MMC under section 9 of the Municipal Act.

The court had accepted the prayer of MMC that
Fomento should operate the plant till February 20 and accordingly an order
was issued.

“We have made a list of the inventory and noted
other minute details with regard to the Sonsoddo waste treatment plant
while taking over the plant on Thursday evening. There
are several items found to be corroded at the site,”
said MMC engineer Diniz D’Mello. He said the signature of
a Fomento official has been obtained approving the inventory
review undertaken by the MMC. Chief officer of MMC Ajit Panchwadkar could
not be contacted for further details.

Sources said that the focus will now be on
the High Power Coordination Committee (HPCC) meeting,
scheduled to be held in Panaji on Friday. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant,
who is the head of the HPCC, which was formed to decide on the Sonsoddo
issues, is likely to hold discussion with the officials concerned in order to
resolve the waste treatment plant issue. Sources also said that the government
is likely to ask the Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC) to
take control of the plant.

The MMC engineers and other staff members visited the
Sonsoddo site on Thursday and checked the plant, shed and the other
equipment.

According to sources, the waste generated in the MMC
areas was not treated at the Sonsoddo plant on Thursday. It is understood that
the MMC has decided to get the work done by temporarily engaging MMC staff from
Friday onwards for a few days.

It may be noted that the MMC had signed an agreement
with Fomento to operate the plant after segregating the waste
and in 2011, it was agreed to pay Fomento nearly Rs 8 crore.
However, in 2016, as per the new rules, the waste had to be
segregated by the MMC and then handed over to Fomento. It was at this
point of time that the blame game started. While Fomento claimed
that the MMC did not pay them as assured in the agreement, MMC, on the
other hand, alleged that there was no waste treatment being
undertaken at the plant and that the waste sent daily by the civic body was
being dumped directly on the old dump.

Finally, Fomento sent a notice to the MMC mentioning
termination of the contract, as they were not paid regularly. The notice also
mentioned the arbitrary application claiming Rs 14 crore.

Till date, the MMC has paid Rs 4.23 crore to Fomento
(in instalments as per the agreement), Rs 1.79 crore (Rs one lakh paid
daily for the services Fomento provided to MMC – treating the waste
post service termination period from August 8, 2019)
and Rs 1.4 crore (deposited in the court as ten per cent of
the amount of Rs 14 crore as claimed by Fomento).